Two Part TV Show Only Playing 2nd Part

Plex Media Server Metadata & Adding Files
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Server Version#: 1.21.1.3876
Player Version#: Web app and 8.11.0.22186 on Android

Hello there! I have the 2000 DVD release of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. Some episodes are split into two files, where the latter file is an update on the science. Anyway, context aside, for example, I have two files named,
02 One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue - part1.m4v
02 One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue - part2.m4v
Plex recognises them as parts, and puts them into one “card”, but when I play the episode, it only plays part 2. To get part 1 to play, I have to select the “play version” option to watch part 1. Then, once it ends, it goes to the next episode and does not play the second part. However, “Get info” shows them as parts, not as different versions. I’ve read the docs and many forum posts, but I have found no solution. One post had the same issue as me and they poster said, “I figured it out”, and didn’t post the solution.
TheTVDB matches it as Cosmos (1980), but I have the updated version from the DVDs in 2000, which it does not have in its database. Could this be the issue?
Any help is appreciated.

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Plex is recognizing the files as two versions of the same episode, not as an episode split across multiple files.

This is most likely because your file naming does not follow Plex recommendations, and Plex is very picky with TV show naming and organization.

As noted in the documentation, not all Plex clients support movies/shows split across multiple files. You will be much better served by combining the two files.

You can use MKVToolNix to combine the files. The output will be a MKV file, but the video and audio streams will not be altered.

See [HowTo]: joining multi-part movies files with MKVtoolnix GUI for details on combining files.

Edit: There is probably a GUI tool for combining multiple mp4/m4v files, but I’m not aware of one. You can use FFMPEG if you are comfortable with CLI.

If you want to keep the separate parts, rename them according to Plex’s recommendations.

For example:

/TV Shows/Cosmos/Season 01/Cosmos - s01e02 - part1.m4v
/TV Shows/Cosmos/Season 01/Cosmos - s01e02 - part2.m4v

After renaming the files, Plex Dance the entire show. This will clear the incorrect information from the Plex Media Server database.

You can test before renaming all episodes.

  1. Rename one episode according to Plex recommendations.
  2. Follow Plex Dance steps 1 - 4 as listed
  3. For Step 5, return only the renamed episode, not the entire show.
  4. Step 6 as listed.
  5. If it works as desired, rename the remaining episodes and add them to the library.
1 Like
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Thank you very much for replying. I renamed the files to exactly how you formatted them in your answer, and performed the “Plex Dance”, yet it still behaves the same way.

I am hesitant to ffmpeg the files together, because I want to keep the subtitles. My use of ffmpeg in the past has been very limited, so maybe there is a way to do this and I am just not aware of it.

It’s just really frustrating that I can’t get this to work. Every movie I have that is in several parts works just fine, but not this TV show.

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Use MKVToolNix. Very easy. Follow the support article.

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But doesn’t MKVToolNix only work for Matroska files? m4v is Apple’s mp4 container.
I guess I could just re-encode the DVD…

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it only outputs MKV but you can input others.

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MKV ToolNix will take MP4/M4V as an input. The output will be a MKV file.

That won’t be a problem for Plex. It will be a problem if you want to load the show into iTunes, which does not support MKV files…

Here’s two approaches to combine the files into one MP4/M4V file:

Approach #1: Use MKVToolNix & Subler

  1. Combine the files using MKVToolNix.
  2. Remux to a MP4/M4V using Subler.

Subler is Mac only. If you do not have access to a Mac, you can use ffmpeg to remux the file.

Approach #2: Re-rip, Combine, Transcode

  1. Rip the discs using MakeMKV
  2. Combine the MKVs using MKVToolNix
  3. Transcode using Handbrake or similar tools.
1 Like
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As noted in the documentation, not all Plex clients support movies/shows split across multiple files.

The only problem with this statement is that this has been the case for a long time, and during that time the various plex clients have been getting updates but this bug is not being fixed.

It’s not your fault obviously as you are just the messenger, but I wish Plex would get into the code and fix this problem.

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